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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

How Elijah Overcame Depression

We've been in a series, a small mini-series on depression.

Last week we looked at how Jesus overcame depression, how he got depressed, and how he overcame depression.

And this week we're looking at Elijah and how it is that he overcame depression.

And that text that we just read shows how depressed he got.

Take my life, I'm not better than my father's.

So let's pray and then we'll dive in here.

Father in heaven, thank you today for the opportunity we have to open your Word to study and bless us we pray in Christ's name, amen.

First of all, the context of Elijah, you know, Elijah was an Old Testament prophet and we know he existed.

We found the archeology for not only Elijah but other parts of the story.

And Elijah was living in a time of, where everybody was talking about climate change.

And he was seen as a troubler of Israel because he looked at climate change differently than the administration did.

And so you have King Ahab, when he saw Elijah, he said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel?

He believed that Elijah was the source of the problems in the nation.

And he said, you know, you're the 1 that's causing a very, very bad environment.

By the way, the word trouble actually means to stir up the water.

Elijah responded and said, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house and that you have forsaken the commandment of the Lord and have followed the Baals.

And so you have this conflict that's going on.

1 group saying you're causing the problems, the other group saying you're causing the problems.

You may not have seen this guy before, but this was the people that, this was the guy they were fighting.

And there was Asherah who was the female.

And the principal pillars of Baalism were child sacrifice, sexual immorality, immorality and pantheism.

So the idea is they would sacrifice children because they would want to get the attention of the gods by the screaming children that were dying.

At the same time, they would be involved in sexual immorality, both homosexuality and heterosexual deviancy and just typical heterosexual activity, and pantheism.

In other words, they thought what they were doing sexually would then cause the creation to produce a change in climate.

So, Baal worship in some look a little like this.

Adults would gather around the altar of Baal And these were high places.

At the same time, they would engage in orgies.

And the ritual was intended to prompt Baal and Asherah to become intimate and thus bring rain and fertility on Mother Earth.

So their activity would then cause activity in the heavenly and this would then bring climate change.

These services were very well attended, as you might imagine, and much more exciting than the services at the temple.

And the very name Elijah was kind of a rebuke to the whole idea because it literally means God is Yahweh.

It was an exclusive name saying no God is Yahweh don't try and mix the worship of Baal with the worship of God.

And that's exactly what the Hebrews were doing, what the Israelites were doing.

They were mixing these 2, and he was saying, don't do that.

He went to the king and he said, look, you're the troubler of Israel.

And the king said, no, you're the troubler of Israel.

And he says, look, let me tell you something.

It's not going to rain for 3 and a half years.

There is going to be a change in climate.

And God, who I represent, is not going to allow it to rain.

And after about 3 and a half years, the king and Jezebel, his wife, who was the main proponent of the worship of Baal, she was the daughter of F.

Baal, They were desperate and they wanted to talk to Elijah even though they didn't really believe in what he said.

And so he said, fine, but let's have a showdown on Mount Carmel.

You can see for miles from Mount Carmel, and it was picked by design for this showdown to see who really was the troubler of Israel.

Who's really troubling Israel and who's not?

And so they had this showdown, and there were 2 altars, and 1 was covered with water, and a trench dug around it.

That was the altar of God, so it didn't look like he was trying to make fire come down on his altar.

And Baal worship included other desperate things like cutting yourself and mutilating yourself to try and make things better in your life.

And they worked all day and try to have their sacrifice burnt on their altar and it didn't work.

And I kind of like the story because, you know, Elijah doesn't just let them do it without comment.

He says, you know, maybe your God is sleeping.

If someone did that today, a minister did that today, you might say, hey, that's a little too far, just let it work out.

But he was kind of like drawing a contrast, Let's put it that way, nicely.

Finally, at the end of the day, what happens?

Fire comes down and consumes the sacrifice that Elijah had.

Everybody starts screaming, the Lord, he is God!

They're all saying, Elijah, Elijah, Elijah, the Lord, he is Yahweh.

And Elijah kind of feels sorry for the king because the climate change comes right after that, starts to rain, and He leads him all the way back to the palace.

Even though he disagreed with him, he led him back, probably in the hopes that he would change his mind.

And God's servants always hope that the people on the other side will change their mind.

It's not as though they are, they hate the people on the other side of the question.

He didn't hate Ahab, he wanted Ahab to change.

And he led him back, But then he got words.

And by the way, there's a archeology that has Ahab's name mentioned.

And then on the bottom we have Jezebel's seal.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had slain all the prophets of Baal with a sword.

And she said, I want you to kill Elijah instantly.

And so they went on and told Elijah he was going to be killed and suddenly his fearlessness and confidence evaporated.

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How Elijah Overcame Depression

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